Parents push for Alberta performing arts school

Wednesday

Nov 14, 2012 at 12:01 AM

TUSCALOOSA | Parents urged city school officials to move forward with the construction of the proposed Alberta School of Performing Arts during a Tuesday community meeting at the Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools.

By Jamon SmithStaff Writer

TUSCALOOSA | Parents urged city school officials to move forward with the construction of the proposed Alberta School of Performing Arts during a Tuesday community meeting at the Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools.“All I want to know is can you tell me the second, minute, hour and the day that you plan on putting nails in the wood to build the new school?” asked Cheryl Moore, the mother of a first-grader and three fourth-graders at Alberta Elementary School.Tuscaloosa City Schools Superintendent Paul McKendrick said he couldn’t give her a set answer because the Alberta School of Performing Arts is still a concept that must be developed further before construction can begin.“I think tonight’s meeting was very productive,” Moore said after the meeting. “We got all the information on what’s being planned and got to give input. I’m excited about it, and I’m all in.”Alberta Elementary School was destroyed by the April 27, 2011, tornado. Students who remained in the schools’ area have been attending class in portable classrooms and a branch of the Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools.More than 250 people, mostly parents, attended Tuesday’s meeting. They asked about a dozen questions after McKendrick’s presentation, which was first presented to the board of education on Oct. 30. Many parents asked how the school would balance teaching academics and the performing arts.And a few parents asked if performing arts elective classes would be available to all students at the school, including advanced students, special-needs students and students with low grades.No child will “sit on the side and not get performing arts” classes, no matter his or her academic aptitude, McKendrick said. Students, however, will need a certain grade point average to be in the school’s end-of-the-year community performances, he said.He said career tech, advanced placement and physical education classes will be offered.“We get ranked by how well we teach kids to read and write, not on how good they can dance and whistle,” McKendrick said, noting a solid education will be the school’s main focus.One Alberta resident asked whether a new Maude Whatley Health Clinic and a Tuscaloosa Public Library branch would be in the school.McKendrick said he’s not sure about the clinic. He said a lot of people have expressed concerns about students’ safety. He said the school would be designed so people visiting the clinic would be separated from the students.He said the clinic was included because he wanted the school to provide services for students and their families beyond an education.“I was thinking about the greater good for the community,” he said. “So many people don’t have health care.”McKendrick said he still wants a library branch at the school.Mary Elizabeth Harper, executive director of the Tuscaloosa Public Library, said the library didn’t get a $100,000 planning grant it needed to build a 4,000-square-foot computer learning center at the school.“We’re not giving up on being a part of the school,” she said. “What we’re still looking at is being part of the school and being a part of the Alberta community. I know that we don’t have the money to build a new library in Alberta, but we’re looking at how we can fund it.”A parent asked why it took so long for school officials to come up with a plan for the new school. McKendrick said school system first had several community meetings to get residents’ ideas. Then it did a demographic study to see how many students and potential students were left in Alberta after the tornado devastated the community.McKendrick said a formula for out-of-zone admittance to the school would allow 7 percent of students from every elementary and middle school in the system to attend the new school. Admittance would be randomized, he said. Ed LaVigne, city schools chief financial officer, said all the cost associated with creating the new Alberta Performance School of Performance Arts still have to be determined as well.“I’m all for the school because it’s a plus,” said Marcus Williams, father of an Alberta kindergartner. “A lot of stuff will be available to the kids that weren’t available for us growing up. If parents try this new school, I think they’ll like it.”

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